CASA on Main: Food trucks, music and more

Families enjoyed the sunshine and cooler temperatures during the second annual CASA on Main, featuring food trucks, music, games and more. Four food trucks, each donating a portion of their sales, were on site, along with the Tap Tap Art Bus. Kids enjoyed looking at the fire truck on display, riding the barrel train, and face painting.

“This is our third event in a relatively short period – we had the CASA Fun Run, CASA by the Pool, and now CASA on Main. Today is about outreach to the community. Our overall goal for today was to do an outreach event for families. We wanted to bring in members of our community to meet us and learn who we are,” explained Kelly Hardy, Executive Director of CASA of Bell and Coryell Counties. “Fifty-six percent of our foster kids are placed out of the county. The CASA volunteer is a constant in a foster child’s life. We are the voice of the child in court. Kids in foster care need someone to walk their path with them.”

Kids in attendance enjoyed looking at the fire truck on display, riding the barrel train, and face painting. The Tap Tap Art Bus was a fun place for attendees.

Three-year-old Rilee Slaughter enjoyed riding the barrel train.

“We are honored to be part of this event today! We helped children make tie-dyed butterflies – the children colored the cutout butterflies, and we sprayed them with water to give them the tie-dyed effect,” said Amber Bryant, of the Tap Tap Art School.

“Volunteering with CASA has been on my heart for a long time, and when the opportunity presented itself, I stepped forward. The best part of being a CASA volunteer is getting to be the one constant in the life of a child, to be a positive light to children,” stated Slaughter. “I love visiting with the children I am assigned – spending time with them, getting to know them, and assisting wherever I can.”

CASA on Main, a community outreach event, featured face painting, music, art, and food trucks. Children enjoyed riding the barrel train and seeing the fire truck.

In 1977, Judge David Soukup, in Seattle, wanted to know more about the children he was making decisions about. He asked volunteers, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), to be a voice of the abused and neglected child in court, thus starting the national CASA movement.

CASA of Bell and Coryell Counties, a 501(c)(3) organization and a member of the national and Texas CASA Associations, pairs a specially trained CASA volunteer with each child assigned to them by the court.
Anyone interested in becoming a CASA volunteer can visit https://casabellcoryell.org/ for more information, or call (254)774-1881.